so john boehner has wiggle room. he can look like he's the tough guy to the tea party folks who have to vote him back in as speaker. tom cole is really laying out the policy. if they wanted to shut him up, he would have been shut up. and so, where does this leave them? they're not going to play the card on the debt ceiling because that was a disaster for them. they're going to say, you know what, we tried to say the democrats were not serious about spending cuts, but they have no option. they lost the election. you know, republican voters were lied to about the state of the polls. they were lied to about the state of america. and if they want to believe that this is the only path that only spending cuts will get them to deficit reduction, they can carry on believing that or get to a place where they're going to get re-elected. >> richard, i think the president is offering a great deal to the republicans. here's why. these guys can go home 98% and say, you know what, 98% of you, i got the tax cuts. i didn't raise your